CA Senate open to your input

For all you Californians, here’s some news I received from 9th District, California State Senator, Loni Hancock, whom I am proud to call my representative. She has joined Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez in announcing the newly revamped Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture. This committee is expanding its jurisdiction beyond issues of food production and will now look more broadly at issues related to sustainability and safety, as well as animal welfare reforms.

Yay!

They created a website for the California Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture, to provide information on the change and to encourage public input. You can vote on which issue matters most to you and stay informed and active on policy discussions. Check it out!

Audubon Magazine: veg diets for the environment

This month, Audubon Magazine features an article by Mike Tidwell entitled, “The Low Carbon Diet.” It's a fantastic essay on the connection between dietary choices and global warming.

Tidwell begins, “Full disclosure: I love to eat meat. I was born in Memphis, the barbecue capital of the Milky Way Galaxy. I worship slow-cooked, hickory-smoked pig meat served on a bun with extra sauce and coleslaw spooned on top.” He continues, “Even the cruelty of factory farming doesn’t temper my desire, I’ll admit. Like most Americans, I can somehow keep at bay all thoughts of what happened to the meat prior to the plate. So why in the world am I a dedicated vegetarian?...The answer is simple: I have an 11-year-old son whose future-like yours and mine- is rapidly unraveling due to global warming.”

Thank you to Karen Dawn and the fabulous DawnWatch for raising awareness to this article.

Vegetarian Teens

A recent Associated Press article, “First US count finds 1 in 200 kids are vegetarian,” written by medical writer Mike Stobbes, caught my attention. The statistics cited in the title come from a government study, but "other surveys suggest the rate could be four to six times that among older teens who have more control over what they eat than young children do."

There's a reason why the Healthy School Lunch Resolution was passed by a large majority of California's legislature in 2003. They recognized that school lunches needed to accommodate students with a proclivity for vegetarian diets. Implementation? Well, that's another story for another time. (Click on the link for some wonderful organizations that are focused on this issue.)

The rise in demand for vegetarian fare is notable among older teens and college students. College dining options have changed considerably over the past five years, in order to reflect that demand. This is what I emphasize to concession managers when I encourage them to add vegetarian options to their menus.

Anyway. The AP article does a good job of highlighting the increase in vegetarian teens, profiling a few individiduals as examples. Check it out.

Johanna

The Fab Phillies Menu

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies on their 2008 World Series championship!

You could say that the Phillies' Citizen's Bank Park also takes the Soy Happy cake.  May Aramark's Kevin Tedesco be an inspiration for all ballpark concession managers in 2009.

Check out these fun news stories:

On October 9, 2008 the Philadelphia Daily News ran a front page feature story, "Venue Vegan; Phillies Citizens Bank Park finds a winning combo with meatless menu."

Also, watch a terrific 2008 opening day piece from Philadelphia's ABC6 News.

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If you are a foodservice director or concession manager, remember that Soy Happy has provided consultation and liaison services to dozens of MLB parks.  We are here to help you find the best veggie items for your venue.  We also promote the heck out of 'em by alerting your fans and local media when they become available. 

Welcome to our blog

Welcome to the new Soy Happy blog! As many of you know, I've been sending out email alerts from Soy Happy throughout the past several years. These alerts have gone out to as many as 1,000 subscribers, who represent a wide variety of interests including health-conscious consumers, members of the media, foodservice personnel, non profit organizations, manufacturers, PTAs and schools, food distributors, food associations, and more. Soy Happy takes pride in offering a network of communication between all of these interests. This blog now offers another way to do that, by providing one location to post announcements, news items and other updates for all those who are interested.

If you'd like to subscribe to future blog postings, please click on the link on this page.

Health & Happiness,
Johanna

Director of Soy Happy